The rules of society, the unspoken rules, the ones you figure out by slow, uncomfortable experience? Let’s do away with them. Everyone is miserable in some way. If not everyone, a ridiculous vast majority. Most of those people are miserable because of those unwritten rules.

Lies are okay.

Me first.

He who dies with the most toys wins.

They are bad because they look/think/believe/want/need differently from us.

The misfortunes of others give us joy.

So, in their place, I say we adopt the following, as a species.

1: Be kind.

Kindness would not harm another being through deliberate action or inaction.

Kindness is aware that other human beings exist and they are all affected by my decisions.

Kindness is consistent and constant.

Kindness is not the easy thing. It is the worthy thing. It is the right thing. Not just for me, but for society as a whole. We are human beings. We have risen above so much, but somewhere kindness was lost behind.

Kindness does not judge without reasoning.

Kindness does compromise.

Kindness asks for what it needs.

Kindness doesn’t ask unless it’s a need.

Kindness is the small thing, the common thing. The single stirring of a butterfly wing, that eventually creates a hurricane.

Kindness is powerful. It doesn’t flinch. It doesn’t back down.

Kindness takes care of itself, that it might better care for others.

Kindness is subjective, but always tries to imagine what it’s like in another’s shoes.

Kindness is the rock to which civilization clings. Trust is a kindness. Honor, a kindness. Truth, respect, justice, valor, all derive from kindness.

We laud ourselves for being tool using creatures. We call ourselves sentient. Without kindness as a constant part of who we are as a species, are we any better than animals, really? Given a behavior comparison, how does humanity rank against the Great White Shark? (No, really. Have there been any studies?)

As for my proposition and the rules, there need be no more. From kindness, all else grows.

Yay Elephant!

Now for an injection of “sanity” from the devil’s advocate.

If humans are wrong about being better than animals, then kindness becomes a privilege. If humans are incapable of overcoming their desires to be selfish and destructive, then perhaps reality is what it shall be. Poverty must exist because not all can have all. Crime, hatred, war, all must exist in a world without kindness, because greed is their root. Itself, unkind.

Kindness itself can’t spread aggressively, either. Kindness can only be an example, spread passively. We have to choose to do it, and change is uncomfortable at best.

So, the proposition. Let’s try it. Choose to be kind. Let’s see what the world looks like with that as our driving force for a century or two. Join me?